The health
hazards of commercial meat-based pet foods are extensive and difficult to avoid.
They may include slaughterhouse waste products; 4-D meat (from dead, dying,
disabled or diseased animals); old or spoiled supermarket meat; large numbers of
rendered dogs and cats from animal shelters; old restaurant grease, complete
with high concentrations of dangerous free radicals and trans fatty acids;
damaged or spoiled fish, complete with dangerous levels of mercury, PCBs and
other toxins; pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, fungi, viruses and prions, and
their associated endotoxins and mycotoxins; hormone and antibiotic residues; and
dangerous preservatives. The combined results are rendered so delicious to cats
and dogs by the addition of 'digest' - a soup of partially dissolved chicken
entrails - that more than 95 % of companion animals subsist primarily on
commercial meat-based diets. Unsurprisingly, studies have demonstrated dietary
links to a variety of degenerative diseases of cats and dogs, including cancer,
heart disease, allergies, arthritis, obesity and dental disease.

Although scientific and anecdotal information describing the
adverse health consequences of unsupplemented vegetarian diets is common,
this is of little relevance to animals maintained on nutritionally complete and
balanced vegetarian diets. There is no scientific reason why a diet
comprised only of plant, mineral and synthetically-based ingredients cannot be
formulated to meet all of the palatability, nutritional and bioavailability
needs of the species for which they are intended. In fact, several
commercially-available vegan (no animal product) pet diets claim to do so, and
have jointly supported a healthy population of thousands of vegan cats, dogs and
ferrets (who are also naturally carnivorous) for many years.

The number of people
who have become vegetarian for the sake of the animals, the environment, or
their health, is very large (see http://www.veganoutreach.org/ if you're
still unconvinced of the merits of vegetarianism for you and the world around
you). The amount of good this has done is barely calculable. Yet most of these
caring people nevertheless continue to feed their companion animals meat-based
diets, in many cases causing as much harm as if they themselves ate meat (the
average medium-sized dog or three cats consumes roughly the same quantity of
meat as a human). They choose to do so out of fear of adverse health
consequences of vegetarian companion animal diets, and ignorance of how these
might be avoided.

Consequently
www.VegePets.info was created to assist animal guardians, animal carers and
veterinary personnel who wish to gain a sounder understanding of the health and
nutritional issues associated with meat-based and vegetarian companion animal
diets. Included are advice on transitioning to vegetarian pet food; on
safeguarding the health of companion animals - particularly cats; on links to
suppliers of vegetarian pet foods and nutritional supplements; and all the
essential scientific and anecdotal information I've been able to locate on this
topic after extensively searching the biomedical literature, and reading the
main books in the field. Please email me if you learn of a
new scientific study or paper related to animals maintained on nutritionally
complete and balanced vegetarian diets (not unsupplemented diets). Thank you,
and enjoy the site!

Has you cat been maintained on a
meat-based or vegetarian diet for a year?

Please help us learn more about the links between
diet and health by participating in this important new
study:

Are you able to help
publicise this site by providing a link via the attached banner, or by
distributing the attached leaflet? Thank
you!

Acknowledgements

James Peden, author of Vegetarian Cats & Dogs,
literally spent months researching numerous invaluable references for the
articles on this website. I am particularly grateful to James, and also to Jed
Gillen, author of Obligate Carnivore, for their invaluable
assistance.